Killed this guy last nite down the road from the house. Hunting an inside edge of old grown over pasture on an old N to S running fenceline where it transitions to big timber. Setup is a big old multitrunk maple tree with primary trails crossing into thicket 15 yards and 25 yards south, 10 yards north, and right under it. Finally set this tree up last year after 19 years on the property :) . They tell me I'm a slow learner....
The wind switched around from the nnw we have had to wsw as the front passed last nite and I figured it was just enough to get away with it as thicket is east and SE of the stand. Heard some general light deer noises starting around 6 pm, including rubbing etc SE of me in the thicket but didn't get excited figuring a young buck as an older one generally wouldn't fool around that long in one spot.
Heard a deer coming around 630 and got the glasses on him thru the brush and said "good enough!". He came right in to me and I had to wait several minutes with him less than 10 yards away while he browsed multiflora and made up his mind. When he committed to a trail and gave me a shot it was about 5 yards, steep angle, but made a good shot and he went about 50 yards and I saw him go down.
Probably a 4 1/2 yr old. 245 lbs live weight, longest tine 12 inches. Shot him with a 57lb 68 inch R/D longbow my buddy in MT built, a 2215 and a big Snuffer. Arrow was stuck in the ground where he was standing.
Best of luck, all!
R
(https://i.imgur.com/ubOCS4z.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/sergZwj.jpg?1)
We let Oskar "find" him for fun.... this pic shows body size...
(https://i.imgur.com/1qSnlBU.jpg?1)
Congrats Ryan on another fine buck-also to Oskar for finding him for you.
Excellent harvest...Congrats!!!!!!
Ironically, just spoke to your father just before leaving the truck and heading to the field yesterday afternoon.
Nice harvest!!!
Attaboy - nice buck!
Tim B
Great buck ryan thxs for sharing!!
Wowsers! That certainly is a mature buck. Well done!
Nother nice one Ryan!! You are a machine bud!!
Coming to MO now? Things are about to get going good here!
Ryan, congratulations again. You on on your game, recurve or longbow. Good job.
Shick
Congrats Ryan, Beautiful Buck. The best part of Mondays is reading all the success people had over the weekend.
Congratulations, Ryan! That is a fine deer! Glad you didn't need to break out the dog to find him.
Darren
Beautiful buck sir. Way to go- congratulations
Beautiful buck Ryan!
Congrats!
Yep, Kenny - gotta work a few more days then off to my place in MO for a week or so. Finally got a good stand of feed in there after several failures - hard to "farm" when there is a drought 2 out of 3 years :) . 2 acres of really nice clover now and an acre of oats. The memories of a couple tons of pell-lime in 40lb bags spread with a quad are fading...finally! Hopefully the feed'll keep the ladies happy and the boys'll show up!
R
Man Ryan you kill some great bucks every year. Always seem to be very close shots for you too!
What a stud congrats!
Congrats! Nice buck!
That's a Big bodied joker!!!!!! Beautiful deer, congrats.
Nice........ :clapper: :clapper:
What a buck! Nice job :)
Well done Ryan, that's a wonderful mature buck. Thank you for sharing with us on Tradgang. :campfire: I was fortunate to gain insight & inspiration from your Father at our local Toddville, Iowa Waltonian Archers club in the mid 80's :clapper:
that is a huge bodied buck! congrats
Congrats Ryan, That's an awesome buck!! Thanks for taking us along through your post.
What a cow!! Congratulations and great shooting
Congrats on another good one. Always enjoy your stories with pictures. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:
Very nice!
Congrats to you! Great deer!
NICE!!!!!
big Snuffer....
Very nice, congrats.
Big bodied buck. Very nice!
Big nasty buck needs big nasty broad head!
Congrats
That's a stud there Ryan. Oskar looks like he's looking for another deer to track down. Congrats. Jeff
Pretty rack..good job.
Beauty of a buck. Love the close shots.
Good enough is right! Been wondering when we'd here got story Ryan. You're right about on schedule. Congratulations!
Good luck in MO!
Nice buck Ryan! How is your Putnam County Mo property going? I remember you talking about it a while back. Lived in Kirksville for 25 years.
Going there next? :)
wow , great buck congrats
Way to go Ryan! Congrats!
Kenny :thumbsup:
the body on that boy is giant!
Great looking buck!
Congrats,
Bisch
Congratulations Ryan! Always look forward to your posts!
Congrats Ryan
Great buck Ryan. Congratulations.
Great buck Ryan. Congrats.
Well done sir , Congrats on a fine buck...
,,,Sam,,,
Great deer!! Congratulations from Va!!!
That's a brute Ryan. Congratulations.
Nice one Ryan. I am sure that Oskar appreciates an easy one every now and then.
Great job Ryan! I knew it was just a matter of time before I saw the post. You get it done every year in a state where it's very hard to do.
Is this an IA and MO year as well?
Looking forward to those reports.
I'll be arriving Friday to hunt the next two weeks.
Very nice - congrats
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Outstanding!!!
:thumbsup:
Nice buck
Congratulations that's a beauty of a buck!
Congrats on another great buck!
What a brut!!!!!
Congrats on a fine buck Ryan :archer:
Congrats Brother. More mature bucks are killed on the almost bad winds.
Thanks for the comments, guys! As to a couple questions - no Iowa tag 'till 2020, and every year is a Missouri year :) Headed out before too long for a hunt there. Gonna be challenging with predicted winds being pretty wrong for my farm in general - but that will be an interesting challenge. I've often been pleasantly surprised, as TJ said, sitting marginal wind direction. You learn a lot.
This will be the first year in a while I've had good food on the place. Tough to farm 7 hours away from home with drought year after year. Hit it hard in March this year with a BUNCH of pell lime and traveled out a few times in the summer to plot. 3.5 acres total with only a quad, a 50 lb spreader, and a groundhog disk is a lot of effort, my tractor is too big for my trailer to haul out :( . Have 2 acres lush clover and 1 of oats now with a couple 0.2-0.3 acre woods clover plots.....so hoping I have a good doe population to draw in the bucks.
R
Nice one Ryan!
Nice mature buck, congrats.
That's a dandy Ryan.
Congrats fellow Hoosier !!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
That's a great Hoosier buck! Nice job.
Congrats Ryan.
Would be tickled to see one like yours come through down here in Owen county. Nuthin but pickle-heads so far.
Thanks for sharing, Skychief.
that is a big deer!!!!
Killed this buck on my place in Missouri last week. Its special having it come together on your own land, for sure. The first few days were pretty wild with buck activity, they were really bird dogging trails looking for love.
This deal is a situation I set up on purpose....I put in a couple of 0.2 acre clover patches right on the inside edge of a heavy bedding area. Out of the back of one there was an old, old logging road in the timber, grown up so that you had to squint to see it. This I opened up a couple years back to give myself easier access to the bottoms to get deer out, do stand work etc, but since I was doing it anyway I checked the bottom of the ridge first to determine where I wanted to terminate the road. The buck traffic was envisioned to be cruising for does, up or down the ridge between the bottoms and the bedding area on top with the bedding area the main attraction, the clover serves to keep the ladies happy and staying at home more.
There just happened to be a major deer crossing in a good spot, this is in the first bench above the creek, and the property line cuts through there with an old fence. There also JUST happened to be a really nice oak for a stand there too. :) kind of like it was planned that way.
I cleaned up the 200 or so yards of logging road, hinge cut along the edges and off to the sides to make more cover. I now spray the trail once a year with the quad (roundup/2,4D mixture) to keep it clean and pull the mower down it once in the summer....viola...deer highway! Its the easiest path thru an area they always traveled anyway. This entails A LOT of sweat equity just for one setup.
Stand access is from the east along the fence thru a deep draw with deer travel basically SW to NE. Hunted on NW, W or WSW wind its killer.
This guy followed the script and came off the neighbor's place, jumped the fence behind me, made a little detour to check another small crossing, then walked past me on the logging road at 7 yards. He made it just out of sight.
He's a 3 1/2 yr old, and it was a fun hunt.... don't confuse me with a trophy guy. I know too many of those, and I know some folks that own fantastic hunting ground and are always miserable because of worrying about trophy hunting in one way or the other, or what the neighbors are doing etc. Frankly, life's too short for that stress...."The right buck at the right time" is a much healthier outlook for me. ;) .
Same equipment as the big guy above, and once again the Snuffer was stuck in the ground on the other side.
Enjoy the rest of the season, folks, and best of luck
R
(https://i.imgur.com/CxPhxza.jpg?1)
Cool Ryan!
Agree, all about the Hunt!
Strong work, great outlook :thumbsup: Well done... :clapper:
Outstanding season! Congratulations again sir
Great buck Ryan, Awsome when all your hard work comes together and pays off :thumbsup:
Great deer and planning!! :thumbsup: :clapper:
Congrats Ryan. If more guys realized how much more fun and personal satisfaction a guy gets out of setting up a strategic situation we'd all kill more bucks. Good job, bw
Another congratulations in order! Great job Ryan.
Another congratulations in order! Great job Ryan.
Congrats on both! Beautiful bucks.
Don't tell me the short dog didn't get to a practice track out of the deal. Congrats.
Congrats Ryan on a couple of great deer!
Thanks, guys. Yep, Barry, it seems "The harder I works, the luckier I gets"!
And yes, The Weiner did the trail. Took him about three minutes to go 75 yards. I slowed him down. :)
R
I like your attitude "the right buck at the right time"! Congratulations on both bucks! :clapper:
Bernie
Awesome
Congrats on a great season!!
i am soooooooo envious!! many congrats!
Great season. The strategy is sometimes the heart of the hunt. Always enjoy your posts.
Great work Ryan...
Strong work, Ryan
Nice deer Ryan!!! Thanks for sharing
Congratulations on both bucks!
Are you done at home with buck tags?